Barnyard Cake

Last night we celebrated my niece Elly’s 2nd birthday. Its so hard to believe she is getting so big! I told her mom I would bring the cake… I wanted to make something special for her. I decided on a barn cake with barnyard animal cupcakes. They were a HUGE HIT :)

I’ve had a few requests for step by step instructions on the barn and the animals. These are a little time consuming but actually pretty easy to do because you don’t need to use fondant or anything. You don’t need any cake decorating experience for these cupcakes… just a little patience!

For the Barn:

I took the original idea from the Betty Crocker website. The only real change I made was to add a silo. They have a really good step by step tutorial video here.

red food coloring (you must use gel color if you want a vibrant red… you can buy this at Michaels or Bulk Barn)

graham crackers

pretzels

coconut tainted yellow and green for the hay and grass (I did this by adding a little coconut and food coloring to a Ziploc bag and shaking it up)

Directions:

Here is a quick step by step (sorry I forgot to take photos along the way!) but the video really is quite good if my instructions are not clear.

Cut the 9 x 13 cake into two pieces: one 8 x 8 in size for the barn, the other skinny piece will be the silo

Cut the top two corners off the 8 x 8 square piece to make the shape of the barn.

Round the top of the silo with your knife (this makes it easier to add the graham crackers).

Cover the cake and silo in a layer of icing to be your “crumb coat”. This will prevent crumbs from getting into the rest of the icing. Let stand for 15-20 minutes to harden. Cover the cake with a 2nd layer of icing over the crumb coat. Note: Make sure your icing is thin enough to spread easily. Mine was a little too thick and was a total pain to work with!!

Break graham crackers in half and overlap onto the roof of the barn and the silo.

Using a tooth pick or a butter knife, drag lines in the barn and silo to resemble wood slats.

Sprinkle a little bit of yellow tinted coconut around the door and windows for hay.

Spread some green icing on the cake board or plate and sprinkle with green tinted coconut for grass.

For the Cupcakes:

This is my go-to chocolate cupcake recipe. Its quick, easy and the cupcakes rise beautifully. They are also really easy to spread icing over. Check them out here.

I’m going to break down each animal so that you know what you will need (most of the candy is from the Bulk Barn). To prep, make sure you have some white, yellow and pink icing ready. I bought black Wilton icing in a tube at Bulk Barn because I often find it tricky to make black icing dark enough.

Cow Cupcakes:

What you need:

White and black icing

Black circular candies (I used black licorice) for ears

Coke bottle candies for horns

Pink mints for the nose

Candy eyes (from Michaels) or you could use brown M & Ms

Cow How To:

Ice cupcake with white icing

Using a Wilton icing tip #32 and a coupler (both from Bulk Barn), make some “fur” on the cow. Don’t be intimidated! This is super easy to add to a Wilton tube of icing. You can just spread it if you don’t want to pipe it… although I think piping is easier for this part!

Add candies for eyes, ears, mouth and nose. You may need to cut the coke bottles to make them a little shorter.

I switched the #32 tip to a #3 and added small dots of icing on the nose.

Pig Cupcakes:

What you need:

Pink and black icing

Pink mints

Triangle candies (I used sour grapefruit)

Candy eyes

Pig How To:

He’s pretty easy! Spread with pink icing and add all the necessary candies.

Rooster Cupcakes:

What you need:

White icing

Candy eyes

Red and orange jelly beans

Rooster how to:

Also easy! Spread with white icing and add all the necessary candies.

Chicken Cupcakes:

What you need:

Yellow icing

Candy eyes

Orange jellybeans

Chicken how to:

I used a Wilton #18 star tip to make the texture but you could totally just spread on the yellow icing.

Add all the necessary candies.

Sheep Cupcakes (my personal favorite):

What you need:

White icing

Mini marshmallows

Candy eyes

Brown M & Ms (for the nose)

Pink triangle candies (same as the pig) for ears- I cut them in half for the sheep

Sheep how to:

Ice cupcake with white icing.

Press mini marshmallows all over the cupcake.

Add all the necessary candies.

Taa Daa!!!!! You are done! Yes… a bit of work, but they turn out SO CUTE:

Ok… I know this is a super long post already but to make things easier, here is a master shopping/prep list:

Baked 9 x 13 cake and 24 cupcakes

Approximately 5 cups of icing (its always better to have a little too much than not enough)

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About Me

rachel@theblissfulbakker.com

Cooking is most definitely one of my passions. Pasta, soup, cakes, muffins, you name it! I love to try new recipes, and I also really enjoy coming up with new ideas of my own. Why the “blissful bakker” you ask? Bakker is my last name and means “baker” in Dutch. As for the word blissful, that’s how I feel when I’m in the kitchen, usually with a glass of red wine in one hand and a cook book in the other.

I currently live in Kingston, Ontario with my husband and my little dog Darby. Both are very eager taste testers when it comes to my baking endeavors. I hope you enjoy my recipes and photos. Please feel free to comment or send me a quick email if you have any questions!